


Amnesiac

by AuroraRebellion



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Genre: Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Who knows man this is my first fic here ok, loz au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-25 22:07:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12542248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraRebellion/pseuds/AuroraRebellion
Summary: The notes rang out clear and haunting against the tolling of the bells, and the surroundings faded to blue, the ticking of clocks echoing through his head as everything rewound to where he had been a mere three days ago.“Our next destination shall be Snowhead...”“Not that you will remember that, of course."-Majora's Mask AU where upon each jump back in time, Link remembers next to nothing about the previous cycle. Thankfully, he has the spirit of the Fierce Deity's Mask, Oni, there to guide him through Termina.





	1. Chapter 1

All was quiet except for the crickets and the ringing in his ears, when a Cucco somewhere crowed, and he was thrown back into reality. Workers called to each other as they lifted boards and hammered things into place. Motion caught his eye, and he looked to see a child wearing a Keaton mask stuff a letter into what looked like a tiny house before dashing down an alleyway. The house looked like it could be for fairies, but it must be for letters.  
Thinking of fairies reminded him of why he wasn't in the Kokiri Forest.  
...He missed her.  
Tearing his eyes from the letter-house, he looked around. He was standing right at the doors of a huge tower. What seemed to be a clock clicked and turned with the passing minutes.  
It felt too fast. It was passing too fast and despite the carpenters in the background, there was an odd silence that haunted him. There were supposed to be bells, and everyone needed to get out, get away because the moon was- the moon was going to crush them and it would just laugh and dance as always, because it was a mask and it didn't care if anyone died.  
The moon didn't care either. He ran around the tower to a place out of the carpenters’ way, and looked up.  
The moon bared its teeth at Termina as it drifted closer and closer, pulled by some force he had no power to stop. He was just a boy in green, the kid without a fairy. The Hero wasn't him, that was him from then. He didn't have some weapon to defeat the villain with this time, and he had much less time.  
Three days.  
...He paused for a moment.  
Why did he have three days? Why that? No one had told him that. No one had said it was three days, or that this land (Termina, no one told him that name either) was in danger. No one had said anything about a mask…  
But there was one. Skull kid had tried to take his ocarina, the one Zelda had given to him, and he… did something to get it back. He wasn't sure what, but it was in its place in the pouch on his hip.  
There were also a few masks along with it. He pulled out one that looked like a Deku scrub, with sad, orange eyes. It felt weird to look at it for long, as if someone was staring back at him, so he put it away.  
The next was one that looked like an ugly pig. He smiled at that one, and felt in his pouch for any more funny-looking masks. There was one that was completely round with a skull and crossbones painted on it…  
And a mask that looked like an actual face. It looked very solemn and stern, seeming as if it was nearly glaring at the world at large. He put the other masks back in his item pouch and traced the lines of paint on this new mask with his finger. He wondered if the lines meant anything.  
Would anything happen if he put it on? He wanted to know.  
He never found out though, because before he could get even close to putting it on, a voice called his name, soft yet stern;  
“Link.”  
He spun around, clutching the mask to his chest, and froze. Before him was the person who must have addressed him, but he didn't expect them to be so tall. They towered over him, he imagined they were at least as tall as Ganondorf, and they weren't dressed as if they meant no harm… Their silver armor gleamed in the early morning sun, and the light glinted off their gauntlets as they crossed their arms, looking down at him.  
“I would not call donning that mask a wise decision,” they said, “In fact, I would go so far as to call it foolish at this current moment.”  
Link stepped back, watching this stranger with apprehension. Their hair was long and white, and some of it fell over their bright green eyes.  
They had the same paint on their face as the mask in his hands, and he spared a moment to glance down at it, risking being caught unawares.  
The stranger’s expression shifted, just a little. He couldn't tell what they were thinking, but if he had to guess he would say they were amused.  
“I assume you've noticed the similarities yet again,” they said, and crouched down so they could speak to him better. He wondered what they meant by ‘again.’ “Those similarities are because I am what you would call a spirit, and that mask contains… my life force, to put it simply.”  
Link nodded slowly, and looked down at the mask again.  
“...How… How did-?” He began, and had to take a moment to restart and say it properly. “How did I get it?”  
“It was given to you,” the stranger replied. “The being who has taken control of the Skull Kid deemed it a way to ‘make things fair,’ in their words.”  
“Does it really?” He asked, and the stranger shrugged.  
“That all depends entirely on what you decide to do. Regardless…” They stood up again, and Link felt very small in comparison. “We have little time to spend in leisure. Come along.”  
They walked past him, and Link put the mask back in his item pouch and ran to catch up. He couldn't exactly walk, with this person’s long strides. He felt like they weren't moving as quickly as they could, judging by how they kept glancing to make sure he was able to keep pace.  
“So where are we going?” Link asked, hopping up the last step. The spirit looked ahead to the gate, where a guard stood in the middle.  
“Snowhead. The Gorons are trapped in a long winter, and you must cleanse their temple of the evils haunting it in order to assist them.”  
The guard jumped to a ready stance as Link walked up, and held out his hand.  
“Wait! I can't let a child wander out of the town on their…” they trailed off. Link figured they must have just fully realized how little could be threatening with someone as tall as the mask spirit beside him. “...A sword?” They questioned.  
Link nodded, a little confused, and the soldier snapped to attention.  
“My apologies sir! It was wrong of me to treat you like a child. Please go ahead.”  
Link smiled at them, hoping to make them feel better considering how embarrassed they were, and walked past. He looked over at the stranger as they both walked through the gate, wondering why the guard didn't comment on their presence.  
“Given that you have possession of my mask, only you can see me,” they explained. Link figured that made sense. He also realized the spirit had neglected to explain something else as well.  
“...Um, also, what's your name?” he asked.  
“My name?” They responded, and then sighed. “My, how rude of me, I completely forgot. My name is Oni.”  
Oni stopped as they walked out of the gates, and turned to look at Link, watching as he looked around at the world outside Clock Town.  
“And given that you have no recollection of the previous times I have said it… welcome, young hero, to Termina.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link begins his journey to Snowhead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay for exposition! :D

He had so many questions for Oni, but he wasn't sure where to begin… There wasn't a bad place to do so though, right?  
“...So, um, where are you from?” Oni looked down at him as they walked, and he regretted the question a little.  
“Termina, just as near everyone else in this land. The Skull Kid, along with yourself, are the two exceptions,” they said. Link looked away, knowing the question was redundant. He had realized it right after he said it. Moving on…  
“So, um, what…” This was going to sound weird but he had the spirit’s attention and it would also be weird to just stop talking, so he just kept going. “What are you?”  
“I…” Oni paused for a moment. Wait Oni was a _spirit,_ they had already said that. Link wanted to hide under a rock, but Oni responded as if it was a question he hadn’t asked before. “...That is a rather complex question. I am many things, and the answer relies solely on who you might ask.”  
“I’m asking you,” Link stated, and Oni took a little longer than he expected to reply. Wasn't that a simple question?  
“...In that case, I am myself. My name is Oni, and I am known as the Fierce Deity, counterpart to Majora, and the god of war.”  
“War?” Link asked, and Oni nodded.  
“Yes, the god of war. I have lent my strength to various soldiers in the past,” he said. “However, that is irrelevant to present events. ...What _is_ relevant, are the Eenos waiting in the snow on the path ahead. If you aren't careful, the piles of snow and ice they throw could easily injure you.”  
Link looked around, at the surrounding area. There was sand far to his left, plain field to his right, and ahead a short wall, which he assumed was to keep people from walking off the edge and falling into the snowy area beyond it.  
...A small voice in his head told him to leap over the wall, but he shoved it aside as best he could as he looked down to see what was past it.  
A cold wind blew up from the snowy landscape below, and he shivered. What looked like snow drifts moved around, and he realized those must be ‘eenos,’ who hadn't seen him yet.  
He drew his sword and started down the steps to his left, with Oni following along behind him.  
The first Eeno rose up from the snow, and lifted a solid chunk of ice above its head. Link knew his shield wouldn't be much help, so he dove to the side to avoid it, scrambling to his feet and closing the distance between himself and the monster. He drove his sword into the snow, and the Eeno recoiled, spinning away from him as it cried out in a warbly voice.  
“Another to your left,” Oni said, and Link turned just in time to raise his shield. The snowball hit and dissolved into harmless, snowy dust.  
Something behind him made a distorted shriek, and he turned to see an Eeno explode into snowflakes. Oni was standing there, and it seemed a moment ago he had been focused on the Eeno. What happened to it? Oni didn't seem to have any weapons, or even magic… Was it possible to punch a pile of snow to death? He had never tried before, and it didn't even seem like what Oni had done anyways, even though he was probably strong enough to do some major damage to something if he punched it. ...Maybe he'd get answers later.  
The smaller Eeno moved back as Link advanced, and it bumped into a Dodongo that had just lumbered out from what looked like a giant, icy mushroom. It turned to see him, and inhaled, preparing to breathe fire at him. He could see the flamed sparking to life in the back of its throat. Link raised his shield and adjusted his grip on his sword.  
“We haven't time for this,” Oni snapped as he caught hold of the collar of Link’s tunic, and pulled him aside from the fire. The Eeno shrieked as it was caught in the flames and melted. “You’ve already wasted near half the morning wandering about like a Lost Fairy. Come along.”  
Oni turned and walked away and Link, too stunned to do much else, silently followed.  
The way ahead was blocked by a huge wall of ice. He looked for a way around, or a way to climb it, but Oni simply looked up.  
“Ready your bow, young hero. The icicle just above has little enough support, a well-aimed arrow ought to bring it down, which will shatter the obstacle in our path.”  
Link eyed the icicle as he pulled out his bow and an arrow from his inventory. The icicle narrowed to a dangerously thin width at the top and the bottom seemed to be very sharp, so Link drew back the arrow, took aim for the smallest point, and fired. The arrow hit, chipping off shards of ice, and the icicle shook, but it wasn't quite enough to knock it loose.  
“One more ought to be all you require,” Oni quietly encouraged. Link nocked another arrow- wait, this was a new time, and he had gotten the bow in the other one… Why did he have a bow? He felt like he should know, but his memory was a blank. He'd always had it, the whole time he'd been in Termina, it felt like, but he knew that couldn't be right.  
Maybe at the moment what was more important was the fact that he had a bow at all. He let the arrow fly. This time the arrow broke clean through the ice and the icicle fell.  
As the icicle hit the wall, chunks of jagged ice went flying, and Link realized that maybe he should have fired the arrow from farther away. Oni seemed to realize that as well, as he said something Link didn't understand (he guessed by Oni’s tone it was a swear) and pulled him aside, shielding him from the worst of the ice. A few shards nicked his exposed arms and legs, and that stung, but he was pretty sure the worst possible harm was the chunks that flew far past him.  
After the ice had stopped flying, Oni let go of Link and stood up properly. Link looked up, and his eyes widened as he pointed to Oni’s arm.  
“You're bleeding!” He cried. Oni looked down at the fresh gash on his arm, just below where his chainmail tunic’s sleeve stopped, and simply pressed his lips together as he considered this new fact.  
“So I am,” he murmured, and Link stared in shock.  
“Doesn't- doesn't it hurt…?” he asked. Oni shrugged.  
“Feeling pain is a somewhat rare event in my existence,” he said, “It would take quite the blow to cause a wound I would feel.”  
Link frowned, but put away his bow and started up the path regardless. Oni nodded, as if satisfied, and followed behind him.  
“...So if you're hurt, you can't feel it?” Link questioned.  
“With few exceptions, that is correct,” Oni responded. “I cannot feel pain as you do.”  
“...That must be weird…” Link muttered. Oni's only reply was a quiet hum, which said nothing Link could properly understand.  
“I have grown accustomed to it,” he said, and that was it.  
Link furrowed his eyebrows, saying nothing more as he squinted through the snow that was starting to fall. The wind was picking up, bringing more snow, and increasing the amount that blew into his eyes. He nearly ran into the boulders blocking his path, as they were covered in snow, and his vision was limited anyways.  
Oni might have chuckled as he recoiled, barely avoiding colliding face-first into the snow-covered rock, but Link couldn’t be sure. As it was, he now had another obstacle to get around… no icicles ahead, so he simply would have to climb.  
He dug his hands into the snow, gritting his teeth at how they burned, and pulled himself over, landing in a snowbank on the other side.  
What seemed like a Boe, but white (what was a Boe, why did he think they should be black?), skittered away, stopping to watch him from under a nearby tree. Oni landed in the snow next to him, but with much more grace than Link did, and Link got to his feet, shaking off as much snow as he could. Some of it had melted, so he was now somewhat wet, and in the middle of a snowstorm.  
He wasn't sure he could keep going, so he trudged through the snow to an overhang, where the ground was no less covered in snow, but at least the wind wasn't quite so fierce. A Gossip Stone stared at him as he walked past, and he glared back at it. He didn't like the feeling of being seen into like the Stone’s single eye seemed to do. There wasn’t anything good to see, after all.  
...He noticed Oni never even looked at it once, and wondered if the deity also disliked the Gossip Stone’s piercing stare.  
A particularly strong wind whipped into the little alcove, and Link shivered. If it was going to be this cold the entire time, he wasn’t sure he could do this…  
“If you’re cold, you needn’t stand out in the open…” Oni said, and knelt down in the snow, pushing some of it aside. “Making a shelter is rather simple.”  
Link wandered over to watch as Oni scooped snow aside, and quickly turned the hole he had made into something of a mini snow-cave. He then sat back and motioned to it.  
“It will be cold for a moment, but you will be away from the wind, and thus much warmer,” he said, and as Link crawled inside, he found Oni was right. The snow beneath him gave just enough that his knees sunk in, but there wasn’t any wind, and it seemed as if the heat of his breath was reflected by the snow and ice.  
“Is that better, young one?” Oni asked, and Link nodded before realizing Oni couldn’t see him.  
“I-it’s a lot b-b-better!” He stammered out. Even if it was warmer, his teeth were still chattering from how cold he had gotten. He thought he might have heard Oni sigh, but the deity was impossible to read anyways. He might have just been breathing, or it could have been the wind.  
“Good. The sooner you are prepared to continue, the better. We haven’t much time, after all.”  
“...We have three whole days though,” Link said, “I’ve made it through entire _dungeons_ in less than that time…”  
“You must find the dungeon, make your way through it, and defeat the boss that resides inside as well, though. And there are four of them. Can you do all that in three ‘whole’ days?”  
Link fell silent and just listened to the wind howl outside after that.  
He wasn’t sure if he could even make it through _one_ dungeon, honestly at this rate, and he didn’t know there were four.  
He was in over his head, he realized. Oni probably knew that too.

**Author's Note:**

> Whooo the froimk  
> That was my chapter description as I was writing this


End file.
